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Dispatches Chapter Summaries

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The book Dispatches paints a vivid image of Michael Herr’s time in Vietnam. Herr reports about the day-to-day events of a soldier’s life in Vietnam with clarity in one of the unearthly events of time. The book focuses on two major battles: the Battle for Hue during the Tet Offensive and the Battle of Keh Sanh. The chaos and intensity of the war and surreal dementia of life in a combat zone are revealed. Herr tells Marines’ stories, some peculiar and other sentimental with a sense of respect and appreciation for what the young men do in a foreign country that is full of danger. The author also recounts the propaganda of the Vietnam war with despise. Herr wrote of the fears and pain of the young soldiers. He explains his overall experience at …show more content…

Throughout the reading, Herr explains how much him and the other soldier had to endure. The book is written in first person point of view by Michael Herr. The book is a non-fiction novel, it is not like any other reading, it allows the reader to paint a picture in their brain, while they are reading it. It grabs a person interest throughout the book. The writing kind of moves back and forth in time, but mainly focuses on two main events: the Battle for Hue during the Tet Offensive and the Battle of Keh Sanh. The book is easy to understand for a high school student, it does not include heavy vocabulary or punctuation. Michael Herr never really introduces characters but he uses broad names to describe his colleagues like Grunts, Lurps, Cav, Marine officers; however he introduces two characters around the end of the book: Sean Flynn and Page. The book is not a history of war, so it is necessary to have some background knowledge about the Vietnam War before reading this book. One unique characteristic in this book that gets readers hooked is Herr treats the reader as his friends, which is why he uses many slang and pop culture references. Even though the book is about war and it is expected to have a serious tone; Herr still manages to add some humor to it. Herr gives the reader a comic

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